In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Kant’s death, the Department of German at Berkeley will host an afternoon symposium. Bringing together scholars from a variety of disciplines on campus, this conference will examine the nexus between Kant’s philosophy and literature.

The event will take place on Friday, December 3, from 1:00-5:00 p.m. in 3335 Dwinelle Hall.

Questions? Please contact graduate student Christina Gerhardt.

Kant Symposium: Kant and Literature

  • 1:00-1:45 p.m. Pheng Cheah (Dept of Rhetoric, UC Berkeley): “‘An original Understanding as cause of the world’: Nature as Techne in Kant’s 3rd Critique”
  • 1:45-2:30 p.m. Robert Kaufman (Dept of English, Stanford): “Kant’s Theses on Feuerbach, or Marx Ado About Nothing and Poetry”
  • 2:30-2:45 p.m. Break
  • 2:45-3:30 p.m. Hinrich Seeba (Dept of German, UC Berkeley): “‘Wahrhaft Wahrheit’: Kleist & the ‘So-called Kantian Philosophy'”
  • 3:30-4:15 p.m. Jeff Fort (Dept of Comp. Lit, UC Berkeley): “‘I cannot do otherwise’: Sublimity and Abjection in Kafka’s ‘A Hunger Artist'”
  • 4:15-5:00 p.m. Karen Feldman (Dept of Rhetoric, UC Berkeley): “The Poet and the Orator: On Kant, Style and Practical Reason”